Michigan's Children is pleased to announce that Andrew Moore, Senior Fellow for the Institute for Youth, Education and Families at the National League of Cities, will be testifying on Thursday, June 11 before the Michigan House of Representatives Education Committee.

The National League of Cities (NLC) has extensively studied efforts to promote better graduation outcomes for young people by helping mayors and other city officials take leadership on educational initiatives. It has experience with communities throughout the nation that have successfully moved their outcomes for struggling high school students, giving them keen insight as to the resources and partnerships needed within education, municipalities, workforce development, and others.

In his testimony, Mr. Moore will share lessons learned from communities nationwide, particularly as they relate to local practices and state policy in cities that have been involved with the Youth Transitions Funders Group and Alternative High School Initiative to build better paths to graduation for kids.

The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. in room 519 of the House Office Building. As always, the meeting is open to the public and we encourage you to attend.

For those of you unable to attend Thursday's hearing, we will post Mr. Moore's testimony online. Click here for more information about his appearance and work on this issue.

Mr. Moore's testimony is the second of what we hope will be three presentations facilitated by Michigan's Children before the House Education Committee as it considers reforms aimed at improving educational success for Michigan students. Michigan's Children President & CEO Jack Kresnak testified on June 4 about efforts in select Michigan communities to improve educational success, and needed policy reforms to facilitate improvement statewide. Read Mr. Kresnak's testimony here.

We also are working with Committee Chairman Melton's office to schedule a presentation by Dr. Andy Sum of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, which has done extensive research into the social, civic, health and fiscal consequences of dropouts on the Michigan labor market and society.

To read an analysis of House Bills 4787, 4788 and 4789, click here.